Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Member of a legislative body of Upper House of Parliament on Monday claimed that ministry of communication approved developmental projects on the basis of influence and not according to the requirements.
Balochistan is the most neglected province in the development of road infrastructure despite the fact that it is largest province of the country in area wise.
These observations were made by Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) Senator Danesh Kumar, while attending the Senate Standing Committee on Communications which held today at parliament house while Senator Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai was on chair. Danesh Kumar claimed that 6000 human lost their lives on N-25 road but still its construction was not complete.
Over the reservation of Senator Danesh Kumar, the committee directed the ministry of communication and NHA to provide details of death occurred on N-25 during last 15 years and also provide details of its expected completion time in next meeting.
While briefing the committee over developmental projects, Secretary Ministry of Communications Capt (R) Mohammad Khurram Agha said that the government has prioritized the ongoing and near to completion projects under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for 2023-24. Due to severe financial constraints, the government took the decision to prioritize nearly completion projects first and then the ongoing projects.
The Secretary Communication expressed these views while responding to a question on the criteria on which projects are taken up. It was informed that as per the policy of the Government the projects near completion are prioritized first and it is in the hands of the National Assembly and Senate to pass the projects for PSDP.
The Secretary Ministry of Communications said that we have no power on the allocation of projects. The Chairman Committee sought the list of projects which are being prioritized to be submitted to the committee.
The Committee took a detailed report on the tragic road accident occurred in Bela, Distt. Lasbela, which took lives of 41 people on Jan 29, 2023.
The DIG operations National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP) briefed the committee that the Motorway Police was not deployed on this location.
The accident occurred 21 km away from the operational area of NHMP. However the NHMP carried out a rescue operation on the site.
The DIG operation apprised that 99 pc accidents are caused due to over speeding, intoxication, vehicle fitness and overloading.
